_Liguanea._ Lia-withe-guana, the name of an animal, probably one
frequent in that part of the island. [That part of Lower St. Andrew,
bordered by the Long Mountain, the St. Andrew Mountains and the Red
Hills.]
_Moneque or Monesca Savannah._ Savannah of monkeys. [Now confined to
the village of Moneague.]
_Mari bona._ Maria-buena, Mary the Good. [Maria Buena Bay is in
Trelawny.]
_Multi-bezon Rio._ Multi, many; buzon, conduit.
_Macari Bahia._ Macari, a tile, such as is made for floors, which the
Spaniards universally used here and probably manufactured them near
this bay, the soil being proper for that purpose.
[Long adds as a footnote to Macari: “Or perhaps it may derive more
properly from the Indian word Macarij (which signifies bitter), and
allude to the tree commonly called the Majoe, or Macary-bitter which
grows in great abundance along this part of the coast, and with
whose leaves, bark and root, which are all of them extremely bitter,
some very notable cures in cases of inveterate ulcers, the yaws, and
venereal distempers, were some years ago performed by an old negress
named Majoe, in commemoration of whom it took its name.” Macary Bay
is in Vere. Majoe Bitter, or Macary Bitter (_Picramnia Antidesnia
Sus._) is a shrub about 8 feet high, with small whitish green
flowers, and berries first scarlet, then black.]
_Mantica Bahia._ Butter (now Montego Bay). This part abounding
formerly with wild hogs, the Spaniards probably made here what they
called hog’s butter (lard) for exportation. [In a very old deed of
conveyance of land in St. James a road is marked as leading to Lard
Bay.]
_Ocho Rios_ said to mean eight rivers. [In St. Ann. It was more
commonly called Chareiras in Long’s time; and indeed as late as
1841, William Rob wrote “Ocho Rios, called to this day by the old
inhabitants ‘Cheireras,’ its early and appropriate name ‘the Bay of
the Water-Falls,’ but has now gone back to Ocho Rios.” It is not
unlikely that the present form Ocho Rios and the derivation from
eight rivers is wrong, and that the real name is Chorréra, a spout.
There is a Chorréra River in Cuba, near Havannah.]
_Perexil Insula._ Samphire Island.
_Sombrio Rio._ Shady river. [Now called the Sambre.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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